St. Joseph's School for the Deaf 3 March 2010

Charlie Dittmeier first visited St. Joseph's School for the Deaf in 1983, just a month after the civil war began pitting a Tamil minority seeking independence against the Sinhalese majority. This present visit comes just a few months after the military defeat of the Tamil insurgency, with huge political problems still to surmount. St. Joseph's has continued through all the troubled years and is still a fine school, now with some new buildings and many new staff and new sisters. It was a pleasure to come back and renew acquaintances.

	Like schools throughout the world, each class day starts with an assembly for the whole school, held outside in Sri Lanka where there is no really cold season.
	Sr. Jacintha, the principal, explains what is happening at the school, and especially about the big sports day competition to be held next week in Colombo among all the schools for the deaf.
	An upper-grade student and teacher prepare a small classroom before the first class of the day. Deaf students in Sri Lanka study to pass the same exams as their hearing counterparts.
	A deaf man whom Charlie has known since the early 1980s. He is now the maintenance man for the school, dealing with the constant stream of electrical and water and mechanical problems. Now he is also preparing the buildings for the 75th jubilee celebration in June.
	The school has a large, safe campus, and these girls have found their special place to enjoy their morning recess time.
	Sr. Charmaine speaks to some of the older boys about the sports competition next week. St. Joseph's regularly comes out on top in the annual games.
	About ten months ago, the school opened a new hostel for the boys, and they are really proud of it and anxious to show it to visitors.
	The school has two water wells in addition to a connection to the municipal water system. Still there are constant problems getting water up into all the tanks above the buildings and insuring an adequate supply of water for more than 230 students and staff, about 65 of them boarders.
	At the end of the day, Sr. Anusha and Sr. Malrani wash dishes after their 8:00 PM supper together with the other sisters.

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